Peer pressure, dares and challenges are nothing new. Think about Ralphie’s younger eight-year-old brother in the movie, A Christmas Story, who found himself stuck to a frozen pole in the school yard after accepting and acting on a “triple-dog-dare” to lick it. The...

The most important decision a parent will make is how and when to grant their child access to their own smartphone. It is a common question, which is often answered in an ad hoc way, by what is happening in other families. Usually there is extreme pressure because...

A recent Common Sense Media article features various “parent helper” apps on the market today, and asks the question, “Do the parenting support apps make parenting obsolete?” and asserts that these gadgets for entertaining and soothing young kids is not needed, but if...

This feature is based upon my presentation to senior citizens gathered in a private home in Lincoln, CA last Friday morning. I am a mom of two grown sons, trained in behavioral science at U.C. Berkeley, who left a career in technology circa 2004 when mobile...

(A personal note about the Orlando terrorist attack that took 50 lives last night: I pray for the families of loved ones lost – that they are comforted by people of good will and their own chosen faith in these moments of gut wrenching pain. And I thank God for...

About Joanna Jullien

Joanna and her husband have raised two sons in Roseville, CA. She has a degree from U.C. Berkeley in Social Anthropology (corporate culture). Her honors thesis was awarded the Kroeber Prize and funding from National Science Foundation.